The Liaison
by Nook Sundry
Summary: The title's rather misleading . . . It will make sense eventually. A small Rin-centric story. On hiatus - undergoing revision.
1. Chapter 1

The Liasion.

By Reiycheru.

Hey, guess what? I DON'T OWN INU-YASHA! I don't even own the third movie yet . . . HOW THE HELL LONG DOES IT TAKE TO RECEIVE A FREAKIN MAIL-ORDER DVD! I'VE BEEN WAITING THREE WEEKS ALREADY! (collapses)

Rin had been here before.

Hadn't she been here before?

She looked around warily.

The girl was standing in a rather pleasant area at the border of a lush forest. Birdsong drifted on the mild air, and the light was soft.

Hadn't those weird little demons brought her here? Where had they gone?

Wait . . . . . What about -

'Sesshomaru-Sama.'

It was only when she heard the sound of her own voice that she realised she'd called his name.

'Se . . . Sesshomaru-Sama!' she called, louder this time, whirling around. Frightened eyes flew around her surroundings - and alighted on nothing.

She was alone.

But - He had been there before!

She faltered, her eyes flickering. H - Hadn't he?

She wasn't sure . . .

W-Why couldn't she remember . . .?

What was happening?

She lowered stricken brown eyes to the tamped earth beneath her feet. She couldn't remember properly . . . What . . .?

It was then that a sound caught her attention.

Water.

Rin lifted her head.

_There._

She blinked in surprise.

Water.

A river.

The girl stared at the quietly flowing waterway. How . . . hadn't she noticed that before?

Or . . . _that_, her brain added, as she lifted bewildered brown eyes slowly upward, to gaze helplessly up the ornate red torii.

In front of her, there was a bridge.

Her mouth open, Rin stood and stared. She couldn't see the other side.

What . . . was she supposed to do? . . . Should she cross it?

Torn, she looked back over her shoulder at the trees and the slanting sunlight filtering down through the canopy. Sesshomaru-Sama wasn't there.

Maybe she'd find him if she crossed the bridge.

That was the thought that prompted her to step forward. Hesitating for only a moment, Rin passed beneath the tall gateway and padded onto the bridge. The worn wood was not unpleasant to walk on, but she was too confused to notice right then that her footfalls made no sound, whatsoever.

Rin worried at her lower lip as she walked, keeping her eyes fixed ahead but still unable to see the other end of the bridge. She didn't know where she was going . . . What if Sesshomaru-Sama wasn't even there?

She racked her brain, her eyebrows drawing together as her gaze fell to the wooden boards she walked upon. Where _was_ he? She - She couldn't . . .

He _had_ been there, hadn't he? She _had_ been with him . . . She . . .

Wait.

_Yes._

YES! She had! She had been there!

Hadn't Jaken-Sama been there too . . .?

No . . . No, he hadn't . . . But what about AhUn?

. . . Yes! AhUn had been there!

. . . So . . . So had Lord Inuyasha . . .

Inuyasha-Sama had been there too! Yes! He had! Inuyasha-Sama and . . . and his friends!

Kagome-Sama! Yes, she was there! She was there with her bow and arrows!

And the Lord Monk, he was there! He was there with the little fox boy . . .

And the lady with the big cat demon. Yes! She was there with . . .

Kohaku.

Kohaku . . . had been there.

_Yes_ . . . With that girl, the girl with that pretty white hair . . . And the mirror . . .

Wait . . . . . Hadn't the lady with the cat youkai been screaming . . .?

Rin's brow creased.

She . . . She had.

. . . So had Inuyasha-Sama . . . He had had that sword . . . He had been fighting . . .

S-So was the wolf man . . . Koga . . .

And . . . hadn't Koga - he'd been with his friends, hadn't he?

Yes . . . The other two . . . and the pretty wolf lady. She'd been bleeding . . .

They were fighting . . .

They were fighting that . . . that bad man . . .

The scary man . . .

Naraku.

She clutched at her throat without realising it.

She faintly registered she was shaking.

It seemed to be getting darker with every step she took . . .

She couldn't stop.

Rin was frightened.

They were fighting. They were ALL fighting . . .

What about Sesshomaru-Sama . . .

He . . . He _had_ been there . . .

He was roaring.

He was roaring at her . . .

No, that wasn't right!

He was coming for her - he was coming really fast for her. But he was roaring at . . . at the bad man. Sesshomaru-Sama was roaring at Naraku.

And Naraku . . .

It was then that Rin realised she was covered in blood.

Her clothes were wet with blood. Her clothes were ripped and wet with blood. There was blood on her arms. There was blood on her feet. She could see it.

_There was blood everywhere . . ._

"RIN!" 

"_Sesshomaru-Sama!"_

'SESSHOMARU-SAMA!'

Rin stumbled. Rin fell.

There was blood on her hands.

No.

_Please . . ._

_She didn't want to go . . ._

' . . . I think that's far enough.'

A voice.

Someone was kneeling down in front of her.

Someone was petting her hair.

'Don't despair, little one.'

Rin looked up and met golden eyes.

He smiled at her.

Not quite sure what's going on? Think you've got an idea, but not actually certain?

That's how it's supposed to be. BWA HA HAAA!

I'll update soon.

Bye byeeeeee . . .


	2. Chapter 2

THE LIASION.

By Reiycheru.

Disclaimer: What? No, I actually don't own Inuyasha.

- - - - - - - - - -

She couldn't move.

She couldn't think.

He smiled at her again.

_Who_ . . .

Her breath hitched when the pad of a clawed thumb gently grazed her cheek.

'Oya . . .' he rumbled. 'We have been in the wars, haven't we?'

He held out that same large, clawed hand between them – and Rin saw the blood smeared on his thumb. Her breath caught again and she mouthed mutely in horror, her trembling hands drifting fearfully to her face.

She immediately began to shake ten times worse than before.

'Rin.'

Her overlarge eyes darted helplessly to the patient golden ones above.

'Peace.' The stranger reached a clawed hand to gently pet her unruly hair again. 'You are safe,' he asserted calmly, steadily holding her gaze.

There was a silence, and Rin blinked up at him, swallowing – and, despite herself, feeling soothed by those three simple words.

Considering her with a slight smile, which she found to be oddly familiar, he lifted arched eyebrows in enquiry.

For a moment the girl blinked up at him again, before nodding quietly.

Resting his forearm on his upturned knee, he gave her an encouraging fanged grin which, if she had been older, she would have described as almost roguish – but at that moment in time, she only found herself reminded somehow of her Lord's half-breed brother.

His free hand he used to gather the ends of his long, white and lavender printed sleeve. Rin stared up at him while he carefully wiped the blood from her face, her mouth slightly ajar as she took in his features – the golden, thickly-lashed eyes; the indigo stripes; the narrow, tapered ears; the snowy hair securely bound at the back of his head in one long, silken, cascading piece; and the unmistakeable sickle-moon marking his brow.

He seemed gently amused by her expression.

'Perhaps you would have done well to heed the order of that self-righteous whelp of mine, hmmm?' he hummed in that powerful baritone, his molten eyes smiling at her.

He gave her no indication to halt her action as Rin raised slightly trembling fingertips to touch the downward-angling indigo stripes across his cheekbones, and so she didn't desist.

'T-Then . . . Y-You _are _the Inu . . . no Taisho-Sama . . .?' she spoke in a small, slightly wavering voice as she traced the thin indigo streaks.

His patient smiled curled further at the edges.

'I am,' he said evenly.

Rin stared widely up at him.

'You - - You are Sesshomaru-Sama's - - Sesshomaru-Sama's Father?' she murmured breathlessly.

'Speaking,' he replied with a smirk uncannily similar to that of his eldest son.

'And - - And Inuyasha-Sama's . . .?'

'Hai,' he answered, his smirk unfurling into that extremely familiar grin, as though he knew exactly what she was thinking.

Rin gaped up at him in awe. The Taiyoukai regarded her with equal interest.

The girl's brows knitted themselves together as she suddenly remembered what he had said.

"_Perhaps you would have done well to heed the order of that self-righteous whelp of mine_ . . ."

And then she recalled _His_ words.

"_Rin – do NOT leave this hut_. _Stay with the Kitsune – this is an order_. _Am I understood?_"

"_H-Hai_ . . . _Sesshomaru-Sama_ . . ."

She swallowed. The Inu no Taisho was looking at her as though he could see exactly what she was thinking.

She suddenly found she was shaking again as she lowered her small, bloodstained hands.

'Rin couldn't - - I couldn't . . .' she stammered around the lump in her throat. Sesshomaru-Sama was strong. But so was Naraku. What if he got hurt? What if he -? What if he left her . . . like her mama and papa? What if he had died – and she had lived.

_No _. . .

'No.' The Dog General inclined his silvery head. 'You couldn't.'

It was a statement. And a fact.

Rin had to swallow down that rather troublesome lump in her throat again. The Lord's expression softened.

'I had wanted to speak with you,' he commented conversationally.

Rin blinked widely up at him.

'You - - You did . . .?' She was too overwhelmed to employ formality. He didn't seem to mind.

'Well – I had wanted to thank you,' he corrected easily.

This time the girl couldn't even stammer out a response.

He smiled again at the expression on her face.

'In regards to my son,' he continued. ' . . . No doubt you understand which one I speak of?' he added with mock formality.

All Rin could do was nod mutely.

The Dog General's expression warmed considerably, and she saw the gold of his eyes deepen – so much like the way Sesshomaru-Sama's would change sometimes that she had to blink. The Taiyoukai tilted her chin up gently with his thumb and forefinger.

'You have my utmost gratitude, little one . . .'

Rin stared uncomprehendingly up at him, her mouth forming a small 'o'.

'Wh – What . . . for . . .?' she quavered.

The Inu no Taisho's smile was both deeply sombre and utterly joyful.

' . . . For doing what I could not.'

She said nothing.

She didn't have to say anything.

His smile became brilliant.

'Take heart, Rin. You have changed everything.'

Somehow, she knew exactly what he meant. Though she could not have put it into words.

Rin gave him a small, genuine smile.

Her Lord's Father returned it.

He rose to his feet then, his demeanour turning serious. 'Now. Come.'

Her heart faltered. Rin turned her head to see that now, she could make out the other side of the bridge.

There was a torii gateway there. And behind it, the biggest, brightest light she had ever seen.

And she was afraid again.

Reeling, the girl turned desperate eyes up to the Inu no Taisho.

His smile was very kind.

'No, little one. It is not time to go.' His expression became thoughtful. 'But I had thought that . . . you might like to pay them a visit.'

Blinking, she followed his gaze.

It was then that she made out, standing silhouetted beneath the torii gateway, a man and a woman who were so very familiar.

For a moment, she was frozen.

She was unaware of the tears falling down her smiling face. Scrambling to her feet, Rin ran toward the light.

Smiling, the Inu no Taisho followed.

O O O O O

'Miroku!' Shippo suddenly yelped, his voice breaking.

The Monk started, and tore his eyes away from the Taijiya upon her Neko Youkai to glance down at the Kitsune clinging onto his right shoulder. A split-second later, however, he felt something that jolted him to his very sole.

His gaze flew to the bloodstained girl cradled against him with his left arm, and for the second time, he felt her warm breath against his neck.

How could this . . . be . . .?

His eyes flew to the centre of the melee.

'SESSHOMARU!'

There was a note in the Houshi's voice that made him spare a glance in the Monk's direction despite himself.

'She's alive!'

Sesshomaru froze, his crimson eyes fading to gold.

"_What -?_"

O O O O O

Rin awoke two days later in the hut of the old Miko.

- - - - - - - - - -

Aww. Yayness.

Many thanks to –

LadyRhiyana – huggles to ya for that encouraging review!

Growing Pain – sorry for confusing you . . . ha ha. Here's that update!

Chineigurl – Thankies hun! As requested – One new chappie!

Lou – (blushes) Aww, thank you so much! I actually didn't picture fog but now that I think of it – I can pretty much see it. I was going for vagueness – focusing on Rin's confusion, you know . . . (That and I don't actually KNOW what the Afterlife looks like) And YES – We do love Rin-chan!

Sakuhin – One update right here! Arigato for the comment!

The last chapter's coming soon. Reviews are appreciated.

Translations:

"Oya . . ." Oh my/ Goodness me . . .

Torii The large gateways usually placed before a shrine or other places of worship – think of the entranceway to Kagome's shrine.

Inu no Taisho The Big Dog himself – Inu and Sessho-kun's papa – The Dog General.

Taiyoukai Great/Mighty/High Demon

Kitsune Generally translated as "Mischievous Fox" – The Youkai species Shippo belongs to.

Houshi Buddhist Monk

Taijiya Demon Exterminator/Slayer – Sango, for short.

Neko Youkai Cat Demon – also known at the AWESOME Kirara

"Hai" Yes.

Later!


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